Online abuse – have you experienced it?

Many of us spend part of every day online – using social media, messaging friends, watching TV or looking up information for school or work. But what happens if you become a target of online abuse?

The No Hate Speech Movement is a youth campaign to encourage young people to stand up for human rights and combat online hate speech (e.g. racism, homophobia and sexism and other types of cyberbullying).

Created by the Council of Europe, the idea is to use the web itself to combat online abuse. The movement aims to raise awareness of hate speech among young people, and teach them how to recognise when someone’s human rights are being violated, and help them defend their own and other people’s human rights.

A report by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights shows that minority groups (including the Roma community, LGTBI people and migrants) are the most frequent targets of all types of hate crimes, including online abuse. The abusers take advantage of the apparent anonymity of online communication.

Organise an event to support the European Day for Victims of Hate Crime on 22 July 2016 in a school, youth group, or public place to raise awareness about hate crimes that have taken place in your community or country.